Heagle?

When we're out and about with Jake (which, in all honesty, isn't often) I usually hear two comments frequently. The first is how absolutely adorable he is. We, of course, wholeheartedly agree with this statement. The second usually is something along the lines of the following: "I love beagles!" "Beagles are so friendly!" "What a cute beagle!" You get the idea.

I always find these statements amusing because, in all honesty, we have no idea what breed of dog Jake is. I mentioned in my last post about mine and my husband's desire to adopt a pure bred dog from a breeder. I'm not sure why this was our preference. I had heard for years about mixed breed small dogs being extremely unhealthy, and that could have been how I subconsciously formed this opinion. Plus, it sounds much better to tell curious onlookers that you are the proud owner of a Labrador or a Yorkie, not a mutt.

When we adopted Jake, his cage said that he was a "hound mix." His vet describes him as "a beagle with a promiscuous mother." My husband and I have decided he is at least partly beagle, or perhaps maybe a foxhound.

According to Wikipedia, my favorite source for all non-academic information (and sometimes even then I make exceptions), a beagle has the following characteristics:

Beagles are intelligent, but as a result of being bred for the long chase are single-minded and determined, which can make them hard to train. They are generally obedient but can be difficult to recall once they have picked up a scent and are easily distracted by smells around them.

This is certainly true for Jake. When we take him outside to potty, generally he is so distracted by all of the other sights and smells that he forgets to go to the bathroom at all... until we get back inside, that is.

Jake is lankier than most beagles I have seen with long paws. This has led my husband and I to believe he might be a fox hound, which is described as the following:

The legs of a Foxhound are very long and straight-boned...a bored foxhound will find ways to keep themselves entertained and can be very destructive, some examples of destruction include everything from scratching at doors to tearing apart objects including toilet paper, being very rambunctious and, being rather long, they have the ability to take things from counter-tops.

This could explain why, after a long day of teacher professional development, I came home to find that my Houdini dog had somehow escaped his crate. I do not know how long he had been out, but coincidentally he chewed almost an entire roll of toilet paper and my flip flops.

Although we don't know what breed Jake is, we know he is a great dog so far and keeps us on our toes. We'll just be satisfied calling him our little heagle for now! Anyone have similar experiences with mixed breed dogs?

A quick update on Jake: My sister took Jake to the vet today while my husband was at work and I was attending a conference. He received some vaccinations and was diagnosed with kennel cough. This had been a concern of ours for some time and now that he has medication we hope he is on the road to recovery!